The Legal Affairs Committee on Thursday morning amended a contentious election law to provide for only manual identification of voters in case technology fails and dropped a proposal for manual transmission of results.

MPs have passed all proposed amendments to the elections Act.

ODM termed the new move “part of Jubilee’s scheme to allow dead voters to vote, as well as ballot stuffing in 2017.”

“How do you have a thriving multibillion mobile money sector, file our tax returns online, have a Sh150 billion fully-online gambling industry, and then you want to tell us that a 12-hour election once every five years cannot be done electronically?” asked ODM director of elections Junet Mohamed (Suna East).

In a dramatic development, Parliament passed amendments to provide for “complementary” transmission of results and identification of voters if technology fails, after Majority Leader Aden Duale proposes move to include manual transmission.

Earlier, a live broadcast from the Parliamentary Broadcasting Unit was cut off, journalists blocked from accessing the gallery, and the chamber cordoned off.

NTV’s Kennedy Muriithi was arrested and his phone confiscated for taking a picture of the MPs as they went into the House. He was later released.

In the morning, MPs were forced to walk after the Parliament road and Harambee road were cordoned off.

The legislators used the public entrance opposite the County Hall with their usual entrance opposite the Kenyatta International Convention Centre blocked by heavily armed police.